Backpacking in Benin🇧🇯: Sleeping At La Guesthouse Etoile, Cotonou “Slight return” – The Bluetones. In December 2024, I found myself back in Benin! Benin is a wild one, with Cotonou being the country’s biggest city, the beast yet not even the capital. 2024 saw my second trip to Benin, this time for Christmas. On both…
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On my latest west Africa trip, we visited Togo and Benin while also veering across the border (yet unvisiting) Ghana. In Benin, we visited 4 main cities – ee toured Cotonou in some detail as well as backpacking the UNESCO world heritage site at Abomey, the slave history at Ouidah and the capital city of…
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“Fly me down to capital city in the sun”- Noel Gallagher. It came as more of a shock to my travel friend Malina than me that the muddy, agricultural hub known collectively as Porto Novo is the capital of Benin. I guess I kind of expected it. Having witnessed some unusual capital cities on my…
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“Under neon loneliness; motorcycle emptiness” – Manic Street Preachers. Benin’s largest city, Cotonou is a sprawling fast-paced affair drenched in predictable West African mayhem. There is no exit door, once you’ve dumped your backpack in this monster. Don’t even think about it. Despite not holding capital city status, it’s the blood sucking beast of the…
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I’m posting this not just to tell our story but to help fellow tourists who visit Benin. There are scams, liars, cheats, frauds and rip off merchants all over the world but West Africa is notorious for it. We were backpacking in Benin recently and here is just one example of a liar, cheat and…
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